Hankerson don't make those crucial 4th quarter catches during Giants AND Ravens game...we lose. We don't need him to catch 10 balls, thats not his role in this run first offense. I don't think they are asking any one receiver to have those gaudy numbers. We just need him to make plays when they call on him and he has this year.

Mike Shanahan is getting everyone involved and we are finally building a team!

Props to Hankerson, Robinson, Morgan guys we needed to step up that has.

The Hogster wrote:Hankerson does seem to always be off balance. Kind of a lumbering guy. But, the injury he had is no easy injury. Ask Jammal Brown. He's a 4.4. guy who can run, so I excuse his apparent stumbling issues for now. But, he does need to catch more consistently. He and Niles Paul need to be after practice every day with the ball machine.

Good post. I agree with all of that. I have also noticed the always off-balance issue.

I'm happy with Hankerson's play, I thought he started the year slowly but has really come on as of late. He has made some big catches the last couple of games. Considering the amount of time he has missed because of injuries he might be ahead of a normal young WR as far as development.

DaveD1420 wrote:Hankerson still has 2 games left in his 2nd season, and he's already far surpassed (49/684/3) Devin Thomas's numbers (43/482/3) for his entire 6 year career.

He's also crushing Malcolm Kelly's 2 year numbers (28/365/0).

Count me as happy with Hank!

Again, it's all about standards. Holding ANY WR to the Thomas-Kelly standard should be a crime. They were COMPLETE BUSTS.

The mistake that I did make was that Hank was a 3rd rounder, not a second. As such, my expectations have been lowered.

Expectations (like standards) are subjective. Due to the fact Hank has been an under-performer, my expectations have been lowered. With these lowered expectations, Hank has put together 2 decent (for Hank) back-to-back games, which is nice to see. However, he needs to show more consistency. He has been basically a ghost in 7 games (or roughly half) this year. I still continue to have serious concerns with his "balance" issues and the fact he doesn't make "clean" (i.e., bobbles a ton of balls) catches. If he doesn't improve on those things (and show it) by the end of the year I wouldn't be surprised to see him gone next season.

Now, I have to say that I no longer consider him on my "most hated" list (in that I no longer yell when I see him in the game). That has temporarily been lifted --- but he still needs to improve on his balance and clean catches or else he may be unemployed next season.

DaveD1420 wrote:Hankerson still has 2 games left in his 2nd season, and he's already far surpassed (49/684/3) Devin Thomas's numbers (43/482/3) for his entire 6 year career.

He's also crushing Malcolm Kelly's 2 year numbers (28/365/0).

Count me as happy with Hank!

Again, it's all about standards. Holding ANY WR to the Thomas-Kelly standard should be a crime. They were COMPLETE BUSTS.

I agree that they were busts. That's the comparison, so thanks for explaining my post to me.

Nearly every draft and acquisition we've had for 10 years have been busts. To see a draftee actually progressing and starting to contribute is the point, and the only standard of comparison is the previous 2 "big" draft picks.

riggofan wrote:Just curious. Are Cousins/Hankerson more familiar with each other because of how the team practices? Sure looked like they were on the same page yesterday.

Thanks for posting those comparison numbers to Thomas/Kelly. No doubt Hankerson has room to improve, but nice to see a WR we drafted growing and CONTRIBUTING.

I don't think so --- after all Hank only caught the ball twice. The second TD could have been to anyone. It was a designed roll out.

KC was just on yesterday after his TD pass to Hank at the end of the first quarter. After that point he was:
4-4 to Josh Morgan
6-7 to Garcon*
5-6 to Moss
4-4 to Paulson (discounting the intentional grounding pass)
2-3 to Royster
1-2 to Hankerson

* KC was really 6-10 but I am discounting (1) the pass Garcon clearly caught that the refs got wrong, (2) the PI pass, and (3) the ball KC threw away in the end zone that was "attempted" to Garcon but really wasn't.

The KC-Hankerson connection wasn't really there. KC was actually connecting with the first team players even more effectively than Hankerson.

DaveD1420 wrote:Hankerson still has 2 games left in his 2nd season, and he's already far surpassed (49/684/3) Devin Thomas's numbers (43/482/3) for his entire 6 year career.

He's also crushing Malcolm Kelly's 2 year numbers (28/365/0).

Count me as happy with Hank!

Again, it's all about standards. Holding ANY WR to the Thomas-Kelly standard should be a crime. They were COMPLETE BUSTS.

I agree that they were busts. That's the comparison, so thanks for explaining my post to me.

Nearly every draft and acquisition we've had for 10 years have been busts. To see a draftee actually progressing and starting to contribute is the point, and the only standard of comparison is the previous 2 "big" draft picks.

Perhaps I am not sure what you are saying ---- is it that you believe Hankerson is not a bust AND therefore you are happy with him because he isn't a bust?

If so, that is a little to simplified for my taste. I find that determining a player's worth is a little more complicated than: bust or not a bust.

And I'm not totally sure I would consider what Hankerson is doing as "progressing". Contributing --- yes, he had 2 TDs --- but not progressing. Progressing to me would be seeing Hankerson improve on the issues he currently has ---- which are balance/agility and his hands. Those issues are still at-large. He has talent, but he is not capitalizing on it because of his deficiencies.

Also, we can't compare anything that MS/BA has done during their tenure to the Danny/Vinny era. Because comparing things to the bottom of the class has no value --- as everything should be above those results. What MS/BA have done (and the players they have selected vs. the past selections by Danny/Vinny) should be superior in every way.